The Newbie
by Speechwriter
Summary: -OLD work- A new Deus, Akiru Takahashi, starts to play and makes friends with Misaki, not knowing that she is the deus whose angel he admires. Complete.
1. Chapter 1: On the Airplane

**Chapter One: On the Airplane**

Um, just so everyone knows, I don't own any of this except Akiru and his angel. I don't know if you  
have to do this, but oh well. And I don't know if these are actually real names… they just sounded

good. Anne is not writing this. Only me. Anyway…

He waved goodbye to his little sister, his mom, and his dad. They couldn't keep him anymore, they

were too poor. They had to send him to Tokyo, to live with his uncle, Hijama-san. He lugged his

suitcase out the door. "I'll bring you back a present, Rini!" He yelled. Then he walked, squinting,

into the bright light at Yamagata Airport. A crackly voice rasped through the low-budget speakers.

"Flight 1397 is now boarding, Flight 1397 is boarding." Akiru sighed and walked briskly to gate N,

where flight 1397 was boarding. His flight. To Tokyo. Away from his family, until he was 18. He

boarded, and sat in the coach section of the plane. Something was crusted on the armrest of the

chair. Somehow, he didn't want to know what it was. A strange guy in a lab coat was sitting next to

him, giving him shifty looks. Akiru scooted away from him, as inconspicuously as was possible under  
the cramped circumstances.

Ichiro Mihara giggled to himself. He was obviously frightening this boy out of his wits. But he had

more interesting things to do than frighten innocent bystanders at the moment. He slid a video out of

its case and slotted it into a laptop of sorts. He watched intently.

Akiru stole a glance at the laptop. He looked away quickly, but not quickly enough. The weirdo in

the glasses had seen him.

"MUAHAHA! Do I see a spark of interest in this future star's eyes?" The nerd exclaimed. Akiru

looked at him, alarmed. Future star? Whatever. "No, sir." He replied. However, the strange, strange  
man wasn't going to give up. He pulled some things out of his ears.

"Very newest techie item! New Sound Sylinders!" He yelled. "Notice that the C in Cylinder is

changed to an S! Anyway, put them in and watch the laptop. I'll rewind it. And don't eat the SSes!

Those are expensive." Akiru could only stare. Eat them? Why would he eat them? (They looked

unappetizing anyway.) Slowly, he took the SSes and slotted them into his ears. Oddly enough, they

were quite comfortable. The strange guy laughed and handed him the laptop. But Akiru had a

question.

"What is your name, Mr.?" He asked.

"Icchan!" the weird eccentric nerd said loudly. An air stewardess stared. Akiru clicked 'play' on the

computer. At once, a bell sounded, echoing around his ears as the SSes took effect.

A little girl in a very strange outfit ran across a shiny white floor. She jumped high, high, high up in the  
air. Too high for a human. She thrust her leg up into the air, and landed on one foot, springing up,

twisting, and slamming the other foot backwards into another person's (?) stomach, pummeling her

to the floor. When the other girl, dressed in a black shirt and white shorts, got back up, the first girl

dropped to the ground and started spinning in a circle. Then, when once again she faced the other

girl, she rolled forward, kicked off and whacked her opponent's gut with her head and both fists so

hard that she was thrown off her feet and onto normal linoleum, as opposed to shiny whiteness.

Something exploded. Or, at least, it sounded like it. As Akiru listened intently, he recognized the

sound of cheering, not an explosion. Faintly, he could hear a clearly expensive microphone booming

"LAYER OUT! HIKARU IS THE WINNER! MISAKI SUZUHARA HAS DONE IT AGAIN!"

Layer out? Hikaru? What was going on? Then the DVD ended, and the screen went fuzzy.

Icchan watched. This boy was clearly enthralled. Then he felt turbulence. He accidentally on-

purpose dropped an ovalloid package onto his seat as he landed. He then ran away, with his laptop

and his SSes.

Akiru was still amazed. Who was it? Who was Misaki Suzuhara? What was Hikaru? His mind was

swirling with questions, but when he turned around, 'Icchan' was gone. Only a round oval package

was left, all alone, on the beat-up old seat. He picked it up, and tucked it under his clothes in his

suitcase before walking, once again, into the bright sunlight, but this time into Tokyo station.


	2. Chapter 2: Getting Started: An Angel is ...

Chapter 2: Getting Started: An Angel is Born

The usual, I don't own this stuff.

Akiru knocked on his uncle's door. "Hajima-san?" He peered through the peephole, without having to stand on his tiptoes.

He loathed being tall. His cheery uncle opened the door.

"Hi, Akiru! How was your flight?" He asked.

"Well, I met this weird old guy named Icchan and saw a video with fighting people! It was cool. And Mr. Icchan left a

package. I think he left it on-purpose. He doesn't strike me as the kind of guy who'd leave something by accident. I think he

meant for me to take it. Here it is." He rummaged in his bag for the package. He found it quickly, and handed it to Hijama.

However, Hajima refused, saying that if he left it for Akiru, he left it for Akiru, not Hajima. Akiru went to take a bath. But

first, he opened the package. Inside was a video, (a copy of the video Akiru had seen,) a strange winged eggish thing, and a

small map. Akiru read the outside of the egg, and it said to open it in the bathtub or over a sink. He left the video in his room,

and took the laminated map with writing (in permanent marker) on it and the egg to the bath. He settled into the soothing

warm water. He felt his muscles relax. It had been a rough day.

He cracked open the egg. Fluid rolled out onto his hands. He took out a small doll. He looked at the egg again. 'ANGEL EGG'

was written on it. He looked at the doll again. Didn't look like an angel to him. He looked at the writing on the map. Two

words were on it. ANGELIC LAYER. He had also circled a place and written Piffle Princess on it. Akiru let the doll soak,

washing all the fluid out of the egg and the doll. Then he got out to have lunch.

"Hajima-san? Can we go here today?" Akiru said, pointing to 'Piffle Princess'.

"Sure. It shouldn't be too crowded, because everyone's at school. Speaking of school, you are going to Eriol Academy. It is

just ½ a block away. So, let's leave now!" Hajima said. Akiru nodded and stood up. They looked down the street and Hajima

pointed at Eriol. It was big.

When they arrived at Piffle Princess, Akiru started looking for the words with Angelic Layer on them. Finally he found them.

By the cooking aisle, he saw a big egg with wings. Hajima looked at the sign.

"Angelic Layer? Oh, I know that. It's a fighting game or something. Put the doll on a special surface, and they live!"

So that was it. That was what the little people were. Dolls like his. He looked at all the Angelic Layer merchandise and

gasped. Good thing he had all his money. First, his skinless doll needed skin. He found some dark stuff labeled 'skin' and put

it in his basket. Then he saw a big sign that said: "newbies, get the necessities here!" Akiru went over to it and took one of

everything except the egg- he already had one. Then he looked at some of the accessories. He got two things, black fabric that

was not labeled armor, and yellow-gold hair.

Later, at home, Akiru set up everything like the directions said to. He slotted the angel in. Lightweight or heavyweight?

Attack or escape? Speed or defense? Akiru chose heavyweight, Attack, and speed. He wanted a boy angel. Next came the

weight and eye color. He chose dark blue eyes, and a weight of 6 ounces. Last, it said to choose a name. Akiru thought for a

minute, then chose. I-c-h-i-r-o.When Akiru finished, he bought material for the armour. He spent about 5 minutes on it and

gave up, submitting to the overwhelming task of stitching the stuff together. He gave it to Hajima, and gave him the picture of

what he wanted it to look like. Then he lounged around, thinking of what he could do with his new friend. At about 10:00 he

went to bed, thinking of the things he and his angel could accomplish together.

And by the way, I kinda misspelled Hajima on the last one. Oops!


	3. Chapter 3: Eriol Academy: The First Day

Chapter 3: **Eriol Academy: The First Day**

Lalala, not my stuff… copyrighted by Clamp…

Akiru yawned sleepily. He got out of bed and got dressed. He was not a morning person. ("Ogggggg…") Maybe some of the

kids at school could tell him a little more about Angelic Layer. He went over and picked up Ichiro. His green-grey cape

flapped in the air. Hajima had done a good job!

Ichiro's dark blue eyes, like midnight, gazed past Akiru into nowhere. His dark skin contrasted sharply with the gold of his

hair. The strange black hood with three blue buttons on it rested at a jaunty angle on his mop of untidy yellow hair. The arms

went through a blue arm shield over maroon armor. The blue chest plating went well with the maroon underarmor. Inscribed

on the plate was a big white I for Ichiro. On his hands were green-tipped gloves; on the backs of the gloves were twisted

swords. On his legs were plain black pants of heavy armor, as opposed to the light blue and maroon. Also made with black

were his boots, catching the light and with the family sign on it. A flowing olivey color cape floated down his back to rest on

the palm of Akiru's hands. Altogether, Akiru thought Ichiro looked good.

He picked up Ichiro and put him in his bag. It was time to meet his new classmates.

_  
Later, at Eriol Academy_

Akiru walked into the big, brightly lit room, packed with people. He was so nervous, his legs were actually shaking. What

would his class think of him? The teacher called order just as Akiru walked in. Akiru could see that she was fed up with the

class of 36 kids. Between the lips of her honeyed smile she welcomed him.

"Now class," She said with the sickly sweet smile still pasted on her face, "This is Takahashi Akiru. He has just moved here,

and we will all give him a warm welcome, won't we?" She said. The class gave no response. Akiru walked to a vacant desk

and sat down. The girl in front of him had shoulder-length brownish-yellow hair. She was one of the few people in the class

who didn't seem to have an angel. She turned around and grinned.

"Hi. I'm Kisaki Tamayo, cohort of the coooooolest Angelic layer customer in the world, MISAKIIIICHIIII!" The girl,

Tamayo, said quietly.

"How do you do, Tamayo-san?" Akiru said, uncertainly.

"Geez, you're worse than Kotaro-chan! Tamayo-chan. Chan. CHAN!"

Akiru looked at her strangely. A voice broke through his thoughts, with his name being called loudly. "Takahashi Akiru!

Wait, he's here. And last, Kisaki Tamayo!"

"HERE!" Tamayo yelled. Akiru covered his ears.

Later, at recess, Akiru went over and found Tamayo, because she was the only person he had talked to. She was hanging

around with a guy with black hair-he assumed this was Kotaro-CHAN- and a tiny girl with brown hair. This was probably

Misakichi. What kind of a name was that? Misakichi… Tamayo's voice (and headlock) broke through his thoughts like a

battering ram.

"Hey, what's the big deal?" Akiru said, struggling. Finally, he did a backflip to get out from the vicious headlock. "What was

that for?"

"Oh, she does that allll the time." The boy said. "I'm Kobayashi Kotaro." He held out his hand. Akiru shook it. Then,

Tamayo said something that made him jump.

"This is Misakichi Suzuhara! The angelic layer CHAMP!" The girl flinched as Tamayo hugged her. Tamayo sighed. "Well, if

we must be formal, Suzuhara Misaki is her name. BUT MISAKICHI IS COOOLER!" Misaki blushed and waved. Akiru

couldn't get over how short she was! But he decided not to mention it. She looked very self-conscious.

"Hello, Misaki-san. Or chan…" He added quickly as Tamayo rolled up her sleeves. "Do you play Angelic layer? He said,

determined to get to the bottom of this.

"A bit…" Misaki said. If it was just a bit, Akiru decided it must be someone else. "Hey, do you know anyone I could

practice with?" Akiru asked. Tamayo huddled with Misaki, whispering, not letting Akiru hear.

"Don't play him. That would be cruel. First let him practice with Icchan's practice menu, then he can just play in an

exhibition game or something." Tamayo said. Misaki agreed.

"Well, at piffle princess, you can practice and then play a game! I'll show you after school." Tamayo said.

"Ok!" Akiru said, brightening up at the prospect of going to play Angelic Layer with Tamayo after school. He was 15, he

needn't tell Hajima-san. He walked back into class, watching Tamayo all the way.


	4. Chapter 4: Practice

Chapter 4: Practice

Disclaimer: I do not own this except Ichiro and Akiru. Please R&R! Thanx.

After their last class, Geography, the class gathered up their things and left the room. Akiru, not used to this, was swept up

by the multitude of noisy people and was ushered down the hall, protesting. When he finally escaped, he went and found

Kotaro. With him was the little girl (She was a full head and ½ shorter than him) and Tamayo. Akiru caught up with them.

"Look! It's Akiru!" said Tamayo, trying to put him in a headlock (again) but failing. "Darn it. Anyway, Piffle Princess this

way!" She pointed and ran off at 90 miles an hour, dragging Misaki and Kotaro behind her. Akiru, caught by surprise, arrived

at Piffle Princess a full block behind her, wheezing.

Tamayo walked up to the desk at Piffle Princess. "Excuse me, could we rent a practice layer? I have money here, 200 yen."

"Well," The man at the desk answered, "It's actually 400 yen. Sorry."

Tamayo turned red. "Does anyone have two hundred yen I could borrow?" She asked. Akiru nodded."I have it." He said. He

rummaged in his pockets for a bit, then came out with the money. He gave it to Tamayo, and their hands touched briefly. She

smiled at him. "Thanks." She turned around and tapped the desk again.

"Um, mister? I have the money." The man turned around and smiled. He handed her a room number; she handed him the

money. She gave him a big smile and ran to room #34. She stuck the key for that room in the lock, and it opened. Akiru

walked in and turned on the lights, followed by Misakichi and Kotaro. He was startled. A big white shiny table was in the

middle of the room. 2 egg-like chairs were on opposite sides of the table. Two headsets were lying on the shiny table, with

pink visors and bluish wings.

"So… this is Angelic Layer? But the shiny white table I saw on the movie was only white in some areas! It looked like an

arctic plain otherwise."

"Well," Tamayo explained, "See the special arenas are only in big official Tournaments. This is only a little outlet of AL. It

would be too expensive to have that kind of projector in every little Piffle Princess, don't you think?"

"Well, yeah, I guess." Akiru sat down, and took out Ichiro. "Ok, so where do I start?" Tamayo sat down at the other end of

the table. She took out an angel, from deep down in her bag. So she had one too!

"Ok. First put on the headset, like so." She put on the headset that was lying in front of her. "Then click the little triangular

button on the side, here. That button opens the wings and you can check on your angel's damage and stuff from here." Akiru

tapped the button, and all of a sudden he saw on the inside of the shield a picture of an angel, standing in the Da Vinci pose.

"Got it? Ok, next take your angel." Tamayo held her angel. It looked strong, like her, Akiru thought. "Got your angel?" Akiru

quickly took hold of Ichiro. "Then, say your opening phrase. It has to have the angel's name, but doesn't have to have

anything else. Like mine is just, Take to the air! Sky, do your best!" With that, she threw her angel. Akiru gasped, sure that

the angel would clatter to the surface of the table and break. But Tamayo concentrated, and instead Sky did a graceful 1 ½

twist, and a flip, landing on her hand, which she slapped down and twisted on, springing off it backwards and landing

gracefully on her feet. "You know," Tamayo said, "I only just recently perfected that. It can take a long time to master your

entrance."

Akiru threw Ichiro into the air, saying, "Kougeki! Shin shutsu ki botsu, Ichiro!" (Attack! Appear and disappear like a

phantom, Ichiro) He thought that her probably had to do something to make Ichiro move, so he thought, do a backflip and

land on your hands, then spring forwards and stand up. However, Ichiro only fell. Quickly, Akiru thought harder. He thought  
harder and harder, but nothing worked. Ichiro was about to land on his head- and then Akiru visualized a flip, a spring and a

straightening up. Ichiro did a flip, landed on his hands, did a spring, landed on his feet, and straightened up.

"I did it! Did you see that? I did it!" Ichiro did a little dance. Misaki then walked over to a radio and put a tape in. Music

started. "Tamayo? Why is the music on?" Akiru asked. Tamayo, however, was concentrating on her angel. Akiru looked at

Sky and saw that she was dancing, first putting her left hand under her right elbow, then vice versa. Then Sky spun in a circle,  
then brought up her knees… "Um, Tamayo?" Akiru asked. Misaki paused the music. "Tamayo, how does dancing help?"

"It's for the timing." Tamayo answered, her angel stopping. "Left, left, right, left, turn around, clap. Ich, ni, san, chi, go,

rocho, sichi, hachi, spin… left, left, right left, turn around, clap, spin… Finish! It's really simple." Akiru tried to make Ichiro

walk over but he fell over in the process. He thought of how he straightened up and visualized Ichiro doing the same. Slowly,

Ichiro obeyed. Then he walked over, jerkily. The music started again. For a good half an hour they danced to the music, over,

over, and over again. Then Tamayo said, "Oops! Our time's up! You can go to an exhibition game now!"

Akiru's eyes widened. "A-a-a real g-game? But I've only been playing for half an hour!"

"That may be so", Misaki said, "but you have your entrace and you can move."

"She's right!" Tamayo said. "A game can cure all rookieness!" She dragged him out of the room.Her hand was tightly holding

onto his arm, as if she'd never let go.


	5. Chapter 5: First Fight

_**Chapter 5: First Fight**_

**Disclaimer: I only own Akiru, Hajima, and Ichiro nothing else.

* * *

**

Akiru walked nervously into the small shopping center exhibition site. He didn't want to play a game! Yet somehow, he

did… At least Tamayo was there. And Misaki. And Kotaro. He looked down at the small plastic card in his hands. It had a

letter, and a number. W18.

"Now for the 17th game! In the east corner is Deus Suzuki Naomi with angel Reiko! In the west corner is Deus Sato Etsu,

with angel Kin!" With these opening words, the deuses made their entrances, and the battle begun. Obviously these people

were not very experienced; their attacks were broken and they didn't guard very well. The match was very close, but in the

end 'Reiko' won. Then it was his turn.

"You'll be great, Akiru-chan." Tamayo whispered. As he walked up to the west corner, the girl who had lost ran past him,

sobbing, which didn't help his nerves at all.He finished going up to the stand (he took the 'w' to mean west) and sat down.

His opponent was a girl, named Yoshiko, with an angel called Zen. She made a simple entrance, simply throwing the angel

into the layer and saying "Do your best, Zen!"

"Kougeki! Shin shutsu ki botsu, Ichiro!" (Attack! Appear and disappear like a phantom, Ichiro) Ichiro did his backflip-

spring-straighten move. Then the battle began. The whistle blew.

Akiru decided to let the opponent go first, to see how she moved. Zen suddenly sprang forward, moving quickly and adeptly.

Ichiro got down in a battle stance. Zen ran at him like lightning. Ichiro could barely get away fast enough. Zen quickly changed

course, running at him again. He leapt at him, her feet leaving the ground. Akiru instantly knew what to do. On instinct he

dropped to the ground and did a backwards somersault, kicking his feet up in the air. Zen's own momentum carried him up

into the air. She crashed back down, hard, not able to twist to land quickly enough. Akiru knew that the time was ripe. He

began assaulting Zen with furious attacks to the stomach and the head. He could only defend. Slowly and inconspicuously, he

raised his right leg so it was at a 90-degree angle to his waist. Zen saw it a fraction of a second too late.

Ichiro's foot swung around Zen, while his fists were still chipping away at Zen's remaining damage points. His foot slammed

into Zen's back, flipping him. Ichiro jumped, so Zen's writhing body wouldn't hit his foot and flip him too. He swung his

body around Zen, with Zen's body as the hinge connecting him to his foot, and his body was now right behind Zen's. He

punched Zen in the back, catapulting him forward. Zen's body skittered across the floor like a doll, screeching to a halt inches

from the layer's edge. His opponent looked as if she had been struck by lightning. Zen's damage reached 5 percent. Akiru was

sweating. It was hard to picture such a weird move.

Yoshiko was fighting a hard angel to beat. She knew that. He was only at 83 damage, she was at 5. She didn't know what

to do. If she attacked, she might be able to get a few points on her angel card. She decided to play on.

Akiru focused on all his might on his opponent. What was she planning? Then he looked at the layer. Ichiro was now only

half a foot away from Zen, who had been sneaking up on him. Ichiro sat down. Zen was now just 3 inches away from him.

Akiru pretended to not be looking. Then, as Zen reached target point, Ichiro reached up and pressed one of the three blue

buttons on his hood. The effect was instantaneous.

Akiru had looked it up online. The Angelic Layer rules accepted additional weapons, but the owner had to create them

themselves. This was no exception. Akiru had threaded the wires behind one of the buttons to the bottom of his cape and

boots, where boosters, concealed, lay hidden.

Like sleepers on the battlefield, the flames on the boosters ignited. They were not made to burn the other angel, of course, just

to pack some extra punch-well, into Ichiro's punch. It worked. Zen's fruitless guard was obliterated when Ichiro's fist hit

Zen's arms so hard that a small semicircle of wind and sparks was created around them. Finally, Zen collapsed. His damage

point reached critical, and he had 0.

The whistle sounded. "Angel Ichiro and Deus Takahashi Akiru have beaten quite experienced Zen and Yoshiko! Wow, folks,

you don't see this every day!" Akiru picked up Ichiro, and the battered Zen. He looked at Zen.

"I'm so sorry! Is Zen ok? I can't really tell. You're a really good deus! I'm sorry… Waaaa…" Akiru said, handing Zen to

Yoshiko.

"Silly, all he needs is some armor patch ups! See, there, and there. Wow, those hard kicks were really powerful. That was a

great match. How long have you been playing? Maybe we'll play again sometime, huh?" She said, waving aside his apology.

They shook hands, and the people cheered. Akiru couldn't believe how happy winning a game could make you feel. The

people here were sooo friendly. "I've been playing for um, half an hour." He replied. The girl's eyes widened. "Wow! I guess

I'll just have to play harder next time then! See ya!"

Akiru walked through the crowd of spectators. He found Tamayo quite easily, as she was bouncing up and down, hugging

some very alarmed bystanders. "YOU KNOW, I FEEL ALMOST AS HAPPY AS WHEN MISAKICHI WON HER FIRST

GAME!" Tamayo yelled. Akiru patted her on the back.

"Very nice, Tamayo…" Misaki muttered, while Kotaro, on the other hand, took a different approach.

"Geez, shut up…" he said, looking around nervously and wiping the sweatdrop from the back of his neck.

Tamayo hugged Misaki, Kotaro, and Akiru, who turned bright red.

"So now what?" He asked. Kotaro explained that now, since he had won an official game, he would get his angel card in about

a week. Then he would be able to participate in tournaments and such.

"Hatoko, my bratty little sister, is an Angelic Layer nut. I know these things." He answered when Akiru asked him how he

knew this. Together, they walked back past Eriol to his house.

"YOU'RE AN AL CHAMPION NOW!" Tamayo yelled. "SEE YA TOMORROW!" Misaki and Kotaro waved, and Akiru

waved back.

See you tomorrow, Tamayo, He thought, and walked into the kitchen, where he was welcomed by Hajima.


	6. Minichapter 6: Icchan's point of view

**(Mini)Chapter 6: Icchan's Point of View  
**Disclaimer: I do not own any part of AL except my own characters; A, H, and I.

* * *

"Muahaha." He chuckled evilly and got into the elevator. His mind was on the random exhibition game he had watched. Ohjiro's fans had 

persuaded him to play an exhibition game, and so Icchan had arrived a little early. The game before Ohjiro's, #18, had been interestsing. _Very_

interesting.

The elevator doorbell dinged. Icchan got out. "Ogata!"

"Yes, chief Mi-Icchan?" Ogata answered.

"I crave Ramen!" Icchan barked at the poor man. He would have added that he only needed to be called Icchan around kids, but he was too

hungry to argue with anyone. "Bring me 1 and seven sixteenths packets of Ramen, noodles slightly soggy, in 4 minutes!"

"But Chief, what if I can't get it by then?" Ogata whimpered.

"DIE!" Icchan yelled, flecks of spittle flying everywhere. Ogata screamed and ran off to get Ramen. Icchan mulled over the strange deus's

moves. He knew that boy from the plane ride back from his conference. Akiru, his name had been Akiru. Icchan had sensed this boy's

interests, and fighter's instinct, and had dropped an Angel Egg for him to have. He couldn't have been playing for more than a day before

that game. Interesting.

His Ramen arrived. Luckily Icchan had taped the whole match. As he ate, he watched the angel in the blue and maroon, Akiru's angel, slam

his foot into the other angel's midriff; the other angel flipping and skidding on the layer's surface.

"I should take him to the tournament room sometime. To practice on the tournament layers. To prepare him. OGATA! WHAT ARE YOU

DOING, HANGING AROUND DOING NOTHING!" Icchan summoned his pathetic lackey, who took his empty Ramen dishes. "Good

little Ogata. Now, look up the history on one Akiru Takahashi. NOW!"

"But chief, why? Is this going to be Misaki Suzuhara all over again?"

"JEEZ, SHUT UP! DON'T ASK QUESTIONS! JUST DO IT!"

"H-hai!" Ogata scurried off to do his master's bidding. He walked over to the big screen computer, which was projected onto a whole wall.

He typed in Akiru's name. A few results came up.

"Look at the birth dates." Icchan ordered. Ogata obeyed. Only one seemed to be the right age. He clicked on it. A big picture of Akiru filled

the wall, followed by information on him.

"MUAHAHA! Take the information, Ogata. Take it, and Make an Angel Card. Now." Icchan chuckled, for no apparent reason. "Akiru

Takahashi…" Ogata scrambled to get some plastic to put in the printer. "Akiru Takahashi…"


	7. Chapter 7: Arigato!

**Chapter 7: "Arigato!"**

_Disclaimer: AL is © by Clamp™. Except my characters; Akiru Takahashi, Hajima, and Ichiro his angel. All events in this story are entirely fictional. Thank you, for your time and attention. :)_

* * *

Icchan watched the sidewalk from inside the brick wall. He had pulled out the bricks and put them back in. He planned to make one of his famous entrances, and burst out 

theatrically from the wall. But he would have to wait, under hot clay, in 90-degree weather, for 7 hrs. His choice.

Akiru was going to practice again, and play another game. The first had been fun, as his opponent had been a good sport. But this time, he would stop at Hajima's and say

that he might be gone for a couple of hours, and maybe pick up 4 hundred yen to practice, and his own music. He walked out of the school courtyard with Misaki, Kotaro,

and Tamayo. As usual, Tamayo was being loud.

"SOOO, ARE YA GONNA SWING BY PIFFLY PRINCESS AND KICK A COUPLE OF OTHER ANGEL'S BUTTS?" She yelled.

"Technically, if I win the game I am going to play, yes." Akiru answered. "Are you going to stick around?" He asked Tamayo.

"WELL, DUH! RIGHT, GUYS? Um, right?" Misaki shifted her shoulders, embarrassed. Kotaro rolled his eyes. Just then, a little girl, with long dark hair, down to her

waist, and an angel hanging out of her bag, tugged on Kotaro's sleeve.

"Kotaro, you promised that we'd go to Piffle Princess! You promised! Come on, loser!"

Kotaro sweated. "Akiru, this is Hatoko Kobayashi. My little sister. The Angelic Layer nut I told you about. And this," he said, snatching the angel out of Hatoko's bag

while she tried to grab it back, "is her Angelic Layer namesake. Suzuka. Lightspeed Suzuka, Goddess of Victory, to give her her full title." Hatoko finally succeeded in

grabbing her back.

"LOSER! YOU SAID WE'D GO TODAY!" Hatoko wailed, pouting.

"Yeah, Hatoko, we are going. Akiru is going to play a game. You too, I presume." Hatoko squealed.

Akiru, seeing as they were at his stop, ran inside to his room, grabbed a cd and 400 yen, waving goodbye to Hajima, explaining where he'd be. Then he raced his friends to

Piffle Princess, Kotaro beating him by a foot. He rented a room, and sat down.

"Hey, can I practice, too?" Hatoko asked.

"Um, sure." Akiru said.

He sat down, throwing Ichiro into the layer. Hatoko did likewise. He put in the cd, and they danced for the whole time, finally finishing up with some skill drills. They

flipped, jumped, slid, kicked, and punched. Then their time was up.

Akiru walked over to the desk and got a game card. His was in just a few minutes, game 27. As game 25 finished, Hatoko walked up to the stand.

"C-can it be? HATOKO AND LIGHTSPEED SUZUKA! This will be one heck of a game, folks! _Angelic fight!" _The announcer stopped talking, and the audience

exploded. Apparently, in Angelic Layer, Hatoko was _very_ popular.

Hatoko threw Suzuka into the layer. "Exceed the speed of light, Suzuka! Angel, fall in!" The other deus threw in their angel, and the battle began. Suzuka began with a

punch to the stomach, and a kick to the head. The opposing angel only just managed to block the ferocious attacks.

Meanwhile, back at the ranch…

Icchan waited.

Suzuka held the other angel's head, and kicked her legs out form under her. The angel did a full flip over Suzuka, who was still holding her, and then Suzuka executed the

finishing blow. The infamous rolling thunder hit the angel right back into the deus's hands. The game was over.

Akiru stepped up, throwing Ichiro. His opponent was a boy named Hiroshi, with a girl angel, Gin. Hiroshi grinned, as if he had something to hide.

Akiru, puzzled, looked at his friends for support. Tamayo grinned and gave him a thumbs-up.

"ANGELIC… FIGHT!"

Gin began to twirl, her kimono of pink and gold, whipping around. She twirled so hard that her kimono's string zipped out of the kimono. Maybe that was supposed to

happen. Probably, because soon the angel knotted it deftly into a lasceau. A lasceau, or a double-ended lasso, was lethal in most western movies. Gin swung it into the air.

Ichiro dodged, but it caught one of his arms, tossing him cruelly to the floor. His damage points zipped down a couple notches, but not too many. Ichiro tried to get closer,

to attack, but the lasceau leapt at him like a live animal, weaving a dance around his shoulders, knees, or stomach, throwing him everywhere. Finally, he knew he couldn't

take it anymore. Ichiro's stomach had marks on it from the rope, his cape was frayed, and he had rope burns on his hands.

Akiru focused on the battle. He ran towards Gin. He concentrated, and at the last possible second jumped. Not a high jump. He leapt right into the belly of the beast, in

this case, the middle of the lasceau. However, he could tell by the way his opponent moved that she was a lightweight. He was a heavyweight, with an emphasis on attack.

He grabbed the rope, and swung it over his head, Gin still on the other end. She grabbed at him and caught Ichiro's shoulders, but he just went with it and fell backwards,

using Gin as a cushion. He only lost 5 damage. She lost 40. But he was only 10 ahead, and he knew that could be taken away verrry quickly.

Gin twirled the lasceau again and got up. She cast it at Ichiro, and he leapt away, but she whipped the other end around and it caught Ichiro's neck, and slung him to the

ground, hard. She followed with a spin-kick, which sent Ichiro spinning across the layer. He got up, and thought hard. Maybe it was time to use the second button. Ichiro

slowly pressed the second button on his hood.

It was like a little golden net was on his hand, from fingertip to fingertip. The lasceau twirled around yet again, and Ichiro swung the net at it. It seemed like the twirling

sound was gone. The lasceau dropped to the ground, like all the energy had gone out of it. Gin yanked it back in, and started to twirl it again. She swung both ends at him,

crisscrossing over each other, so he would be caught by one of them or caught in the middle. However, with his little net of light, all the fight seemed to go out of the

lasceau, and the loops dropped to the ground, as though tired. There were only 4 minutes left on the clock. Ichiro darted towards Gin. She ran towards him, at top speed.

Ichiro swung his hand with the net, which was growing bigger, on it, at Gin's legs. A look of confusion swept across the deus's face. Gin's legs went limp like noodles. She

crashed to the ground and retreated, deciding to use the lasceau and her body. The net on Ichiro's hand was huge. It was time.

Ichiro's other hand grasped the net in it. Ichiro placed it on his head, and pressed the button again. His hair started to grow. All Akiru had done, really, was put some more

hair inside the head, and at this signal, the hair started to slide out. Ichiro's hands swung the net over his head. Whatever was inside was impossible to see. It rushed out and

was caught in the meshes of Ichiro's hair, which started to move.

Akiru had threaded wires at the base of the hairs that had told them to respond to kinetic energy. The net had captured it, and Ichiro could put it wherever he wanted, to

have more speed, he could use it as a shield, by stretching it out and releasing the energy. However, Ichiro needed something to counter-attack the lasceau. Rope.

He swung his hair at the lasceau. It curled around it and pulled. Gin was reeled in. Ichiro stood on his hands and sprang forwards, bringing his foot up and catapulting Gin

out of the layer, her lasceau still firmly in Ichiro's grip.

"LAYER OUT! GIN IS LAYER OUT! ANOTHER BIG SURPRISE FROM THE NEWBIE, AKIRU TAKAHASHI!" The announcer boomed. The audience cheered.

Hiroshi held out his hand.

"Good game. I'll have to rethink my lasceau tactics, huh?" He grinned, and they shook hands.

Tamayo squealed. "Akiruchi you are the second coolest, right next to Misakichi!"

Misaki clapped along with everybody else. At the very back, Ohjiro Mihara watched. He approved. The hair idea had been good. He walked away inconspicuously, so as

to avoid any fangirls that might be lurking in the shadows. He would have to inform his brother.

Akiru walked happily out of Piffle Princess. Hatoko was balancing on the brick wall they were right next to. Tamayo was going on and on about how she had the luck of

meeting the coolest people, Kotaro was sweat-dropping, and Misaki was taking something out of her bag and fiddling with it. Akiru waved goodbye.

Meanwhile, back at the ranch…

Icchan watched. He saw Tamayo peel off from the group, followed by Misaki, Hatoko, and Kotaro. Akiru was alone. Finally. He burst out of the brick wall, yelling,

"ICCHAN GO BOOM!" Akiru screamed. Icchan chuckled. "Calm down. It's only me." He said. Akiru sighed.

"Um, Arigato!"

"For what?"

"For the package you left me!"

"Darn! That was supposed to look like an accident… oh well. Anyway, good job on your games! My brother told me about today!"

"Your brother?" Akiru asked.

"Yes, I know, WEIRDOS IN LAB COATS AREN'T **_SUPPOSED_** TO HAVE BROTHERS! BUT I DO! WAAAAAAAAAA!"

"Poor brother." Akiru muttered under his breath.

"What's that?"

"Oh, nothing." Akiru looked up to heaven.

Icchan waved a briefcase. "THIS IS WHERE A PRESENT FROM ICCHAN COMES INTO THE PICTURE!" He held out an angel card with the words Angelic Layer at

the top, and a slip of official-looking paper, along with a couple of photos and-money!

"Take it!" Icchan said. Akiru decided it couldn't be money, and he put whatever it was in his pocket. He looked at his angel card. It had his name, picture, angel points, and

Angel's name, and stats on it.

"Arigato!" Then he looked at the slip of paper. He caught a glimpse of some verrry long words before Icchan said that it was just an entrance card to the tournament

building.

"Slot this in the side of the building, right next to the doorknob, between bricks #8 and 9. You can practice in the tournament arena that way, for up to 1 ½ hours each day."

Akiru checked out the photos. "These, Akiru, are some photos of moves that previous champions have done." Akiru glanced at all of this and said

"Arigato!"

Then he bid Icchan goodbye, and walked into his home. He looked into his pocket, and drew out…

3500 yen.

Maybe this maniac wasn't so bad after all.


	8. Chapter 8: The Tournament Arena

**Chapter 8: The Tournament Arena**

_Disclaimer: Angelic Layer is owned by Clamp. I only invented the events in this book, and Akiru and his family, Hajima, and Ichiro.

* * *

_

Akiru put Ichiro gently back in his egg, which was his holder, his cape, hands, and stomach repaired. He went over to the box that he kept his saving in, and wondered what

he could possibly do with so much money (Besides practicing Angelic Layer 9 times). He then went to bed, thinking of the size of the tournament layer. Would it be as big

as the layer on the video? Would it be… zzzzzzz.

He woke up bright and early. It was 6 am, even before Hajima-san woke up. He got some eggs out of the fridge, with a mango, assorted fresh fruit, and a fish. Then, walking

over to the stove, he began to cook.

Hajima woke up to the sound of fish sizzling, and the smell of rice and curry. He walked into the steamy kitchen and saw lots and lots of food, sitting on the table. Akiru

smiled.

"Eat it, Hajima-san! It's not poisoned, I tasted it myself." Hajima sat down and ate. And ate. And ate.

"So, Akiru, are you going to be anywhere Angelic Layer-related after school?"

"Um, yes! That strange guy I met on the airplane, I saw him yesterday and he gave me some stuff. My Angel Card, for a start!"

"Good! So where are you going to be?"

"Down at the tournament layer. I got a pass into the building!"

"Ok. Dfo wellsch at schoofl!" Hajima said, with his mouth full.

Akiru grabbed his bag, his money, and Ichiro, and ran off to school.

_  
Later, at Eriol Academy_

Akiru took notes in History, while he wondered why Tamayo wasn't in any of his classes. It wasn't fair.

Tamayo took notes in Japanese, while she wondered why Akiru wasn't in any of her classes. It wasn't fair.

In gym class, Akiru watched while Tamayo broke a wooden board that was 2 inches thick, with a roundhouse kick. She took a karate pose. A bar was above her head, and

she had to break it without use of her hands. She flipped, landed on her hands, and bent her legs in both directions. Then she swung both legs back so they were side by

side. The bar, in between them, was caught by the right leg swinging back and the left going forward. It snapped, and was driven into the ground as Tamayo swung it back

down. Akiru watched in amazement. It was his turn to do something. He had to kick a board that was next to his head, on the right. He swung his left foot, and ducking out

of the way, turned around and kicked it, snapping it in half.

After school, Akiru went to the tournament layer. He slid the paper in between the 8th and 9th bricks. The titanium door swung open, clicking ominously behind him as it

locked.

Icchan sniggled, hiding in a doorway just above where Akiru was.

Akiru heard a noise. Puzzled, he looked around. Then, a figure dropped on top of him, trying to strangle him and putting a hand over his mouth… Wait. He looked up, and

saw, unsurprisingly, the mad scientist stereotype. Icchan burst out laughing.

"HAHAHA! YOU SHOULD HAVE SEEN YOUR FACE! CHOKE… WHEEZE…" Icchan looked at Akiru. "Ok, tournament layer this-a-way. I knew you'd get lost…"

Akiru rolled his eyes, thoroughly unimpressed.

_  
At the tournament stadium_

"Whoa. It's GIANT!" Akiru said, thoroughly impressed.

"Yep! I'm here every afternoon. I will commentate. I have got an opponent for you. Ronin!" Icchan called. A boy, about 17, by the looks of him, walked out of the

shadows of another door, carrying an angel in a black costume. Black pants. Black shirt. Black armor. Black skin! Black hair! Except for a pair of white lightning strikes

down the sides of his body, the whole guy was black. He stepped up to the layer and pressed a button and another button. The stadium lit up, and then 3 egg-shaped

chairs zoomed down. Icchan got into one that was kind of off to the side. Akiru, nervous, got into one, Ronin got into the other.

"When thunder rolls around, lightning strikes! Vanquish your opponent, Thunder! Angel, fall in!" Ronin threw the angel in.

"Kougeki! Shin shutsu ki botsu, Ichiro! Angel, fall in!" Ichiro fell onto the layer. Ichiro started to commentate.

"And the layer for today… will be this!" Instantly, a strange pockmarked layer appeared. Akiru gasped. It was light beige, and huge craters were everywhere. Ichiro

hopped onto the layer. As soon as he touched down, he bounced back up. "ICCHAN! WHAT IS THIS?"

"Very simple, Akiru. If the layer was ice, it would be slippery, right?"

"Right."

"Well, you're on the moon. Hee hee." Akiru stared at the layer. It did bear a resemblance to the moon. Thunder bounded across the layer, heading straight for Ichiro. Ichiro,

caught off guard, was not even able to block. He was kicked right in the neck and he skidded into one of the craters. Akiru heard his damage points zip down to 60. Ichiro

got back up, and walked back to the center of the layer. He sat down, and kicked Thunder's legs out from under him. Ichiro picked up one of his legs, slid Thunder through

his own legs, and brought him over his head. He was about to slam him down when Thunder punched him right in the stomach. Thunder dropped to the ground, and Ichiro

kneed him in the chest and escaped. He only had 40 now.

Thunder, taking advantage of the bounciness of the layer, zoomed right next to Ichiro's head, planning to land behind him and kick him off the layer. Ichiro imitated what

Akiru had done earlier, swinging around and kicking Thunder's stomach. Thunder bounced up high, and landed on his feet. He then kicked off, his head going right over

Ichiro's, his feet headed right for Ichiro's neck. Akiru did a handstand to avoid it, then thought of Tamayo. He splayed his legs, waited till Thunder was in between them,

then snapped them back together. Thunder was caught in between Ichiro's legs. Ichiro sprang off of the ground, and landed on his feet, Thunder slamming into the ground.

Thunder then resorted to a dirty trick. He pretended to be down, and when Ichiro turned to retreat, he grabbed his foot. However, Akiru had been expecting something like

this. He flipped. Thunder, hanging on to Ichiro's foot, flipped along with Ichiro's body. Thunder crashed down on the ground. He had 30 left.

Akiru sweated. He had thought that that last blow would finish him off. Tamayo's move. Tamayo… Akiru knew what to do. Ichiro ran at Thunder, and caught him in a

headlock. He crashed back down, his damage reaching 10. He guarded… and Ichiro did a furious roundhouse, which hit Thunder's arms and blasted him off the layer. The

game was over.

"ICHIRO- WINS!" Icchan's voice thundered through the remains of the game. However, when Thunder had slid off the layer, he had been trying to hang on. His fingertips

were still on the layer, still alive. If even a bit of him was off the layer, though, Ichiro would have won. Akiru knew that the game was done. Ichiro walked over to

Thunder's hands. Grabbing one in a viselike grip, his hand went off the layer and became inanimate. However, the rest of him was still very much alive He tugged, and

succeeded in pulling Thunder back onto the layer. They walked to the center of the layer. Ichiro held out his hand, and slowly, Thunder took it.

Icchan grinned.

"You're a great fighter!" Ronin said. "Practice sometime?"

"H-hai!" Akiru answered. He concentrated, and Ichiro sprang off the layer into his hands.

Icchan thought. He needed to enter this boy in the tournament. When Akiru had left, he walked into the lab. He walked over to Ogata and for once, addressed him without

any weird, shall we say, attachments.

"Hello, Ogata."

"Hello, Chief Icchan!"

"Did you tape the match?"

"Yup. Got every bit of it. Here's the tape." He waved a tape in the air, and Icchan took it. He stored it away with Akiru's other matches then went to a website called the

official site for Angelic Layer tournaments. He logged in, his username "Theboss," his password . He went to the sign up page, and registered Akiru. He would tell him

tomorrow, no biggie. Then he checked up on who else was entering.

There was the usual, Suzuka, Shirahime, Alice, Blanche, Mao, and Hikaru. There were also a TON of newbies. There was a picture of each one. He would have to change

the Angelic Layer rules. He didn't like what he was seeing. Most of these kids must have excellent small-motor skills, because there were swords trained to come out of

their hands, and those could severely damage an angel. He also saw things like mace-and-chains, clubs, fire weapons, and things to make the angels grow, in size.

He logged onto another techie website, which allowed him to change the Angelic Layer rules. He typed in: Weapons may be used, but they must not **_directly_** harm the

opponent. All angels with such weapons must disable them at once. They will be disqualified and their angel cards taken away if they do not remove these weapons.

Then he sighed and sat back in his chair. "Ogata, could you get me some Ramen? I'm hungry."

Ogata, surprised by his boss's outburst of sanity, said, "yes, sir" at once and ran to get Ramen.

Akiru walked home, thinking of Tamayo and how she had helped him when his angel had needed it most. Hajima called out to him, asking how his game went. Akiru replied

'fine', but he hardly heard himself. He was too wrapped up in his own thoughts. Tamayo…


	9. Chapter 9: Signed up?

**Chapter 9: "Signed up?"**

_Disclaimer: CLAMP owns Angelic Layer. I own the characters that you haven't read about in Angelic Layer._

_

* * *

_

Akiru walked around in gym, trying to remember some of the moves that his classmates were doing. Tamayo walked up to him.

"Soooooo… what were you doing after school yesterday? I called AND YOU WEREN'T IN! HOW INCONSIDERATE!"

"Jeez, calm down. I was at the Angelic Layer tournament arena, practicing." Tamayo said 'ohhhh.' knowingly. Just then, Akiru saw a long face with eyes with tiny pupils.

Glasses, lab coat, crazy look… It was all there. Icchan had shown up.

Icchan beckoned. Akiru walked over inconspicuously. "Icchan, what are you doing here?"

"Just wanted to tell you that I signed you up for the tournament, so you'd better start practicing! And, I see you found your nose. Goodbye!"

Icchan's face popped back behind the wall he had been looking over.

"Hang on", Akiru said. "Whaddya mean, signed up!"

Icchan's face reappeared. "It means that you are now going to be in the big Kanto Area Angelic Layer Games Tournament! And congratulations on getting your nose back."

Akiru stared. He had never lost his nose. And he never signed up for any tournament! Jeez, Icchan…

After school, Akiru walked over to the rabbit class at the preschool, picking up Hatoko with Kotaro. Hatoko walked out, completely ignoring Kotaro, and said, "Hi, Akiru!

Can you come to our house for a second? I want to show you some Angelic Layer stuff." Akiru glanced over at Kotaro, who shrugged, and said, "Ok with me. I'm going to

be at the dojo anyway, so whatever." Akiru said ok.

When they turned the corner, someone burst out of the underbrush. Akiru had expected it to be Icchan, but it was Tamayo, who ran at Kotaro. She hooked her hand under

his arm and around his neck, swung him around, and sat on him. "WHY'D YOU RUN OFF LIKE THAT, KOTARO-CHAN?" Kotaro gasped for breath. "Oh. Hi, Akiru."

Tamayo grinned at him. "Kotaro's never gonna beat me."

Akiru followed Kotaro and Hatoko to the Kobayashi's place. Hatoko opened the door, and Kotaro went straight to his room. Akiru followed Hatoko. When he walked into

her room, he gasped so loudly that Hatoko heard him.

He couldn't see the walls, for a start. They were wallpapered with pictures of the best angels, including a white angel, a blue and black angel with a label, Wizard, Hatoko's

angel, an angel in a kimono with a huge ribbon, an angel that looked like it had different texture that had curled blond hair and a vacant expression, Suzuka, even a small

picture of Ichiro, and last, the angel. The angel that he had seen and admired from the very start. Hikaru.

"Wow! How long does it take you to do this?" Akiru asked.

"Well, it took about a month. But my most prized possession, it's hidden away. Try and find it!" Akiru looked in the closet, and under the bed. He checked the light

switches, and by the time that he was desperate enough to even check the light switches, he was exhausted. He leaned on the light switch panel, to catch his breath, and it

slid down to reveal 2 small buttons.

"See, this is so rare, only one is given out a year, that my parents made an exception for me and gave me a secret place." Hatoko explained. Akiru pressed the button, and a

picture of an angel called Alice on the ceiling slid back to reveal a door. Then he pressed the button again, and the door opened. A robe and crown slid out, followed by

another one that was about ten times smaller. Akiru walked towards it.

"What is it?" He asked.

"It's the Angelic Layer winner's robe for the national championships. Me and Suzuka won the second tournament. I WAS SOOO HAPPY!" Hatoko squealed. "The big

one's for me, the small one for Suzuka. Now that at school we're being given homework, I haven't had much time to practice. Would you practice with me?" She walked

over and pressed the buttons again, and the robe came back up and the door shut.

"Um, sure. But wouldn't you rather practice with one of these guys?" Akiru gestured at the walls.

"No. you need to practice too. Madoka and Arisu will practice together, Sai and Kaede, Hikaru and Athena, Wizard kind of doesn't like to be social and pair up. So I need a

partner! Please?"

"Ok. But sorry if I, like, mess up or something." Akiru said.

"Yay!" Hatoko smiled. She was so cute and little!

_  
Later, at Piffle Princess._

Akiru walked over to one of the tables and put on a headset. "So, friendly game it is?" He asked. "Sure!" Hatoko said, putting on the other headset. She made her entrance.

"Exceed the speed of light, Suzuka! Angel, Fall in!"

"Kougeki! Shin shutsu ki botsu, Ichiro! Angel, Fall in!"

Suzuka started to run. She ran at Ichiro, looking at the layer. Or so it seemed. When Akiru wanted Ichiro to dodge left, he looked left. Etc. Suzuka read Ichiro's moves

completely. Akiru dodged left, but Suzuka just spun on her leg and kicked out at him, his head snapping back. Akiru looked at Hatoko. He saw her looking at him, and this

time, when he wanted Ichiro to dodge right, he looked slightly to the left. Suzuka flew to the left and would have hit Ichiro, had he been there. He was standing to her right.

Akiru decided not to use any 'fancy footwork' here. Ichiro's foot swung around, hard. It hit her in the stomach, propelling her back a couple of inches.

Hatoko scowled. He must have noticed her looking at him.

Let's go, Suzuka.

Ichiro watched Suzuka circle him, ready. Suddenly, she rushed at him. Ichiro blocked his face and upper body, because that was where her foot was aimed, but Suzuka

simply did a flip and was soon facing the other way. Her foot was headed for his feet, and if she hit them he would be knocked out of the layer. Ichiro jumped, and Suzuka

hit the ground. This was exactly what Hatoko had been planning. As Ichiro landed again, Suzuka rolled backwards, her back up against Ichiro's legs. She kicked her feet up

over her head, and powered her knee right into Ichiro's chest. Her attack exploded, and Ichiro was thrown out of the layer and onto the floor. Akiru sighed.

"You know, I predicted we would lose to you. I saw that move, what was it? The rolling thunder the other day. I saw that your technique was superb. We souldn't be able

to beat that. I'm only a newbie, and without knowledge, Ichiro is powerless. Good game." He picked up Ichiro, and placed him on the layer again. Suzuka held out her

hand, and Ichiro shook it. Then Suzuka turned around and jumped out of the layer into Hatoko's hands as Ichiro flipped into Akiru's.

Everyone knows that it takes ages to describe stuff, right? In real life, that took approximately two minutes and forty seven seconds. So, just checking. Let's keep going.

Akiru felt a sense of loss, but knew that Hatoko was an expert. He had wondered why she had shown him the robe, but now he knew. It was to show that she had 3 years

of experience. He had 3 weeks. Akiru thought. How could he find more moves! He would ask Tamayo the next day. She probably knew some.

Hatoko smiled. If they could do this often, Ichiro would be a very strong contender. She had no intention of stopping.


	10. Chapter 10: The Tournament Begins!

Chapter 10: The Tournament Begins!

Disclaimer: I don't own Angelic Layer. (Unfortunately.)

Misaki yawned. She got out of bed on the first weekend of summer break. "Hello, Hikaru! Hello, Athena! Time for the tournament, Hikaru! Aren't you excited?" Hikaru, her soft red hair glistening in the light, swayed a bit as if to nod. Misaki grinned.

Akiru got out of bed, feeling a great sense of relief at not having to wake up at 5. The doorbell had rung. He stretched and walked over to the front door's peephole. He looked through it. Oh, it was only Misaki and Hatoko. He opened the door. "Hi, guys!"

"AKIRU, DID YOU FORGET? The first tournament game's today! We're going to be late! Hikaru's already done her match, and you missed it!" Hatoko yelled. Just then, Kotaro and Tamayo ran up, panting. "GARG! I didn't know you could run so fast, Misakichi!" Tamayo grunted, wheezing.

"Yeah, you are really quick." Kotaro agreed.

Tamayo seized on the opportunity. "I can't even take my eyes off of you for a millisecond, Kotaro! Honestly!" She knocked him down, lay down next to him, and drove the heel of her hand into the base of his head. Kotaro blocked it, mostly.

Akiru, Tamayo, Kotaro, Hatoko, and Misaki walked down to the tournament area. There were a lot of people there. That was an understatement; there were probably about a thousand people there! Hatoko looked at her game number. Tamayo looked at Akiru.

"The place where you get the game number is over there. We are in section D, row 8 if you need us. See ya after your game!"

Akiru walked off to the desk. He handed his card to the lady. When she handed it back with a slip of paper, she said, "The waiting room for the deuses is right over there. Good luck!" She sounded slightly mechanical. Akiru walked into the waiting room. Lots of hostile-looking faces glared at him. Then he saw a girl sitting in the corner. She was holding the angel that was on Hatoko's wall, what was it… snaps fingers impatiently Blanche! And, um, Kaede.

Akiru walked to the back of the room, near where Kaede was sitting. He bowed.

"Hello! Is anyone sitting next to you?" Akiru asked her.

"No. Go ahead. I'm Kaede, and this is Blanche. Our game is in just a couple minutes." Akiru sat down and looked at her angel. It was definitely lightweight, even Akiru could tell just by looking at her. Kaede held her out to Akiru and he looked closely at Blanche. She felt different. Suddenly…

"AND NOW, FOR GAME 39! ANGEL BLANCHE AND DEUS KAEDE SAITOU VS. ANGEL AYAME AND DEUS AIKO! Entry angel." Kaede made her entrance.

"Blanche, everything is to your will! Angel, fall in!" Blanche fluttered down and landed lightly on a surface that was very windy and rocky, the top of a mountain. Ayame skidded to a halt just before she fell off a jagged cliff. Akiru saw that this angel was noticeably bigger than Blanche.

Kaede grinned. She evaded every one of Ayame's attacks, and landed on top of a cliff. When Ayame soared up to grab her leg, she simply swung her leg around and around, then finally hit the other angel's hands so the grip loosened. The other angel zoomed out of the layer by the force of the spinning. Kaede smiled benignly and picked Blanche up off the layer. Then it was Akiru's match.

It was one thing to do a game in a deserted tournament area. Another to do it with like half of Japan watching. Akiru walked up to the layer. He tripped on the way up and heard people expressing mirth. He turned red. He got into one of the egg chairs. His opponent, a girl named Sai, was his opponent. The announcer well, announced the contestants.

"First, in the East Corner! Jounouchi Sai, with angel Shirahime!" Thunderous applause sounded all over the stadium. "And in the West corner, a newbie, Takahashi Akiru, with angel Ichiro!" A small smattering of applause could be heard from section D.

"And the layer for today… will be this!" A layer where the ground was red and fiery on one half, gaseous and swirling on the other. "Entry angel!" The announcer announced.

"Let the silver snow fall! Dance, Shirahime!"

"Kougeki! Shin shutsu ki botsu, Ichiro!"

Shirahime gracefully entered the layer. Ichiro followed. The game had not yet started, so the special effects of the layer could not be seen… for the moment.

"ANGELIC… FIGHT!" The announcer yelled. Immediately, something very strange began to happen. "Oh. Unlucky deuses today, folks! They have been chosen to test out the new invention of the genius who created Angelic Layer! 0-GRAVITY ATMOSPHERE!"

Both Sai and Akiru gasped. 0-g? Akiru glanced at Ichiro. He was floating around.

"Now the deuses must battle not only the other angel, but the atmosphere as well!"

Akiru made Ichiro press the first button on his hood. He could fly and maneuver that way. Shirahime simply dropped her kimono, which began to float around. Shirahime, somehow, could move quite easily. Perhaps it was because she was very much a heavyweight, weighing 9 oz. Ichiro only weighed 6 oz. Shirahime lunged toward Ichiro, who dodged.

Ichiro brought his foot down, meaning to smash into Shirahime, but she turned upside down and grabbed his foot in both of hers. Then she backflipped and sent Ichiro spinning almost to the edge of the layer, but he started up his boosters and barely managed to avoid a layer out. He got up to Shirahime and spun into a blitz of spinning kicks, which hit her arms and stomach. Shirahime dodged his last kick and sent her foot straight into his back. Shirahime was ahead by a lot. He zoomed away into retreat. He stuck out his fist, and started up the boosters again. Ichiro headed straight for Shirahime, with his fist sticking out, but at the last moment soared up above Shirahime, who was blocking. He went behind her and kicked her. She flew across the layer.

Shirahime flew up to Ichiro, who was hovering there. She faced like she was going to attack from below, then rose back up and punched Ichiro in the face. His damage points zipped down to 15. Shirahime was still sitting pretty on 90. Akiru started to sweat.

Ichiro suddenly zoomed down onto the fiery surface. His feet slowly began to blacken. Shirahime flew after him. He looked up and acted like nothing was going to happen. He expected her, when he dodged, to try and move with him. He supposed correctly. He sidestepped neatly, and Shirahime changed directions suddenly. Ichiro cartwheeled over her, glad to be off the scorching hot surface. Shirahime crashed onto it, and started to smoke. However, she soon recovered when she got back into the air. However, that blow had cost her. She was now at 60. Ichiro had to be careful. He decided to see what the other layer was like. He touched down, and sank right through.

Ichiro plummeted through layers of red mist. He flew over to the side, where it was thinner. He didn't realize that the layer's edge was barely a hairs breadth away from him. He heard something swooshing towards him. On instinct, he took a judo pose. Shirahime descended at 50 miles an hour. Ichiro waited until the last possible second, then lay down, and hooked his right foot into the air. Shirahime grabbed it, and Ichiro swung it ont the layer's bottom. She crashed down, hard. However, she pulled Ichiro's foot with her. He landed on his face. Ichiro, who now had 5 left, quickly got up and rose high into the air, then fell with all his weight and strength onto Shirahim, sho was still struggling to get up. She collapsed, but Akiru couldn't be sure that she was finished. Ichiro took her hand and swung it over his head, then brought it back down. This time, he heard every last damage point vanish.

Ichiro grabbed Shirahime in a viselike grip. He flew her up to the edge of the layer, where Sai, smiling at Akiru's antics, took her. "Good game."

Akiru shook her hand. The stadium exploded. "However!..." Said Sai. "Don't count me out yet. I still have to lose one more game before I'm disqualified." She gave another rare smile. Akiru smiled back and walked back to section D, row 8, and sat down next to Tamayo to watch Hatoko's game. (Which she won. Big surprise.) Their hands were almost touching.


	11. Chapter 11: The Next Matches

_**Chapter 11: The Next Match**_

**Disclaimer: Never have, or will own Angelic Layer, sadly.**

Hey guys! So sorry bout the little 'lapse', I was momentarily obsessed with other things. So. Next chapter now, eh?

* * *

Icchan brooded while watching the screen. Arisu was slowly pushing her sister's angel back with her balance-emphasized angel Alice. Mao was 

simply guarding. However, Arisu was slowly being led into a trap. Mao waited until they were at the very brink of the icy snowcapped mountain they

were on to make his move. He brought his foot, up, stopping halfway as if to feint, but went through with the movement. Alice hurriedly blocked, and

Mao flipped over her. He quickly jumped to avoid the foot that was aimed at his head, and before the foot could get away again, he dropped down

onto it. Alice was trapped. He spun on the foot that was holding Alice and kicked her off of the mountain. She rammed right into the side of another

mountain and was still. The buzzer sounded; the battle had now taken 10 minutes. When the points were up, everyone saw that Alice had only 3 less

damage points less than her sister. The crowd cheered. Icchan watched.

"Ogata, I yearn for popcorn. With chili sauce. Now." Ogata rolled his eyes and scurried off.

Akiru was watching the match. It was his game next. He stood up when Mao was declared the winner. Tamayo smiled at him. "You'd better win!"

Akiru grinned back. He strode up to the egg shaped seat and was raised into the air. He didn't think he would ever get used to the strange sensation

no matter how many times he did it. Then his opponent was raised up. Instant silence fell. Akiru gaped. It was Misaki's mother.

She waved, recently having gotten much less shy. The announcer grinned sneakily.

"And here is the big surprise! The champion has decided to enter the Kanto Games!"

"Um, am I missing something?" Akiru thought to himself… "Champion?"

"Entry Angel!" Akiru tossed in Ichiro, still puzzled. Shuuko threw in a beautiful, intricate angel with cascades of yellow hair streaming down her back.

"ANGELIC… FIGHT!" Ichiro waited for Shuuko to make the first move. All of a sudden, she catapulted towards him. Ichiro guarded, but she

slithered between his legs in one fluid movement. He didn't even have time to turn around when she kicked him in the neck. He was thrown off the

huge rock he had been on. She threw herself high, high into the air and kneed him right in the midsection.

Akiru was sweating. This was way beyond anything he had experienced… He was being hit again and again… He had never been so outclassed.

Ichiro flew high into the air, hoping to avoid her, but she simply jumped after him. She was **fast. **Ichiro aimed a kick at her, but she caught it between

her own legs and somersaulted, letting go. Ichiro crashed to the ground, and saw her heading for a follow-up attack. He spun, barely catching her

with the tip of his boot. It was enough, however. She was a lightweight.

He tried to land a punch on her, but she leapt on his hand and kicked Ichiro's face, leaping over him and hitting him in the back. He tumbled, head

over heel, until coming to a full stop. Ichiro had about 2 percent damage left. Athena darted over to him and began jumping over him again and again.

He suddenly did a handstand and, as she landed, he let his feet fall back onto her hands. He leapt up and did a spin-kick into her chest. She hit the

ground, but Ichiro wasted no time. He tried to do a follow-up attack, but she did a strange little twist, and hit him squarely in the chest with both feet.

Ichiro sat down, hard, and was defeated.

Athena did a strange catapulting movement that sent her spinning back into Shuuko's hands. Akiru bent down and picked Ichiro sadly up from the

layer. However, he still had one loss left…

Akiru ate lunch, sad. Tamayo, Misaki, and Kotaro were trying to cheer him up, futilely. He sat there and stared at his food sadly. He trudged back

to the layer when his name was called, and he waved goodbye to his friends at section D.

"Wellllllllcome to the laaaaaast, fiiiiiiiinal battle of the TOURNAMENT! Well, correction, KANTO area tournament. ENTRY ANGEL!" The

announcer furiously indicated the layer.

Akiru tossed Ichiro into the layer, and his opponent threw hers in, yelling something Akiru couldn't quite catch. He observed the angel. She wore

red, yellow, and white. She looked very lightweight indeed, and fragile to a certain degree. He shook his head as the layer flickered into view. It was

an orchard in the winter, with apples, withered and sad-looking, hanging from the birch trees. Strange… There were snowdrifts everywhere, and a

waterfall was running down over a huge cliff that erupted on the opposite side of the layer. The deus could obviously see over the rock, however.

Ichiro, who was at the bottom of the cliff, clambered halfway up the cliff before remembering that he had rockets. He pressed the button and soared

up to the top. The angel was just standing there.

It was Hikaru.

Ichiro actually took a few steps backwards, Akiru was so surprised. He looked at the deus.

It was Misaki.

His brain shut down. Misaki, here? She must have been the deus all along. What would he do? She was amazing…

Hikaru charged. Ichiro sidestepped, and Hikaru grabbed his cape, swinging a full circle around him. She kicked him hard in the chin, and he

backflipped with it, reducing the damage caused.

Akiru's brain switched on again. Fans were rooting for him; he was in a huge arena. He couldn't make a fool of himself.

Not now.

Not ever.

Shedding his cloak, he tossed it to the ground. He turned to face Hikaru. He would fight.

Hikaru stood her ground as Ichiro rushed her. She took a hold of his hand and tripped him as he catapulted himself towards her. With grace, Hikaru

toed him in the face. He shot over the waterfall, his bronzed skin turning blue under the water.

Hikaru went over to the edge of the waterfall. She leapt over. Halfway down, she was grabbed by a hand sticking out of the waterfall! Ichiro had

found a loose root and swung Hikaru into the river, stepping on her back. He dropped to the ground with ease, as she slid down. The crowd

cheered.

"GO FOR IT! GO, AKIRU! GO, MISAKICHI!" Tamayo screeched.

Ichiro danced around Hikaru, evading her attacks. Her fists flew by his face. Then, suddenly, she feinted back and her head butted right into Ichiro's

stomach. He staggered back. She kicked his arm, punching his face viciously. Akiru winced as Ichiro's damage dropped below twenty percent. He

brought back Ichiro's foot and swung it so hard he flipped into the air as it missed. He changed direction, and plowed into the base of Hikaru's skull.

She fell to the ground, but wriggled right-side up and grabbed his foot. She twisted it and threw him high into the air, soaring up right beside him. She

punched him, hard. He fell, crunching through tree branches. He lay, battered, bruised on the ground. Once more, he touched the button on his hood.

The third one.

It was an ingrained hyper-mode, only a thousand times more powerful. Ichiro glowed white-hot. He rose up into the air. His sapphire eyes snapped

open. He did a spin kick right at Hikaru's face, darting under her and throwing her higher still. She descended. They darted over the ground with light

feet, weaving a pattern of armor and whirling short hair. He delivered a small kick to her midriff, and she ducked under it, throwing him over her

shoulder. Ichiro's points beeped the five percent mark as he crashed down.

He stood up, walked over to Hikaru, and punched her in the face. She had thought he would try a trick, and hadn't moved her face at all. She reeled

in shock, then roundhoused him into a tree. At one percent, he pressed the button one more time. He zoomed forward, hitting her with two small

horns that had sprouted out of his hair. His cloak soared down from above. The two flying engines hit Hikaru in the back, and he kicked her one last

time. She thumped him on the head, and he fell.

It was over.

As he removed the headset, retrieving Ichiro, he thought,

_There's always next year._

He met Tamayo, Hatoko and Kotaro after the match. Ohjiro Mihara, one of Misaki's old friends, had come too.

He looked at Tamayo. Putting his arms around her, he kissed her, deeply and lovingly. Hatoko and Misaki looked away, embarrassed, and Kotaro

looked scandalized. I mean, it was in the middle of the _stands! _

Looking around at all his friends, Akiru realized that he hadn't actually lost. He had won… the game of love and friendship.

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**cries FIRST FIC EVER DONE! BOO-YAH! Come on now. Hit the little button. The blue one. Right there. That's right.**

**You little devil... glares at button fiercely Do as the arrow commands.**

**V**

**Ok, lame arrow. deal with it. You can do it!**


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